I actually lived this way later than most, right up to 2021 with about a 1 year exception when I lived in China, 2018-2019.
Living in China, itβs less possible to do without a smartphone (specifically WeChat) than it is in the U.S. where I live. I still went back to my βdumb phoneβ no problem when I returned home, and still see internet-in-my-pocket as a luxury.
The one thing that would really hurt me is having to go back to paper maps getting to new places. I still could, though.
For sure! Paper maps are a last resort. I often have to travel near DC. There are way too many highways and traffic to get around with a paper map alone. Even with someone reading it, its sketchy. The Atlas' I used to have are quite outdated now, I should probably try to find some new ones
I will usually print out a direction list if it's somewhere new until I learn the route. I like to think I have a pretty good sense of direction.
I just went somewhere in Seven Corners π let me tell you, I LOVED having a realtime map and driving directions showing up right on a screen in my car then
I've actually thought about going back to a dash mounted GPS device so I don't need GPS on my phone.
All of the "free" nav apps that aren't GSM (Google Street maps) are very flawed, and it still pisses me off that OSM won't just rip off Google's location database. That's NOT proprietary, IMO. It's also exceedingly invasive though I can't figure out a correct way to tell them to stop other than asking politely and then if they refuse, incineration of all their servers all over the world simultaneously, which is seriously difficult to pull off as a civilian.
Going back to a Garmin isn't a terrible idea, IMO, tough it's obviously not as portable as a phone.
Also traveling though rural areas, I rarely have signal and lose GPS lock often, so a paper backup is required.
